C.S. Eliot Kang

C.S. Eliot Kang

C.S. Eliot Kang (born Choo Soon Kang; 1962) is a career U.S. diplomat and a member of the U.S. Senior Executive Service. He is Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation (ISN), U.S. Department of State. In 2017, he acted as the Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation and exercised the authorities of the Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security. He also acted as the Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation between January 2009 and June 2009.^[1] Kang is one of the State Department's leading experts on nuclear affairs, including on nuclear safeguards, security, and safety matters as well as denuclearization, counterproliferation, and counter nuclear terrorism issues.

Career history

C.S. Eliot Kang

On January 22, 2017, Eliot Kang was appointed Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation (ISN), United States Department of State. Throughout 2017, he acted as ISN's Assistant Secretary and exercised the authorities of the Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security. He also served as the Acting Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation during the Presidential transition between George W. Bush and Barack Obama.^[2] He has held various senior positions in the State Department, including in the Bureau of Arms Control (now defunct), and Bureau of Political-Military Affairs.^[3]

Kang has led U.S. diplomatic efforts in various international nuclear fora and multinational negotiations. In 2009, as President Obama launched his Nuclear Security Summit process, Kang—serving as ISN's Acting Assistant Secretary—co-chaired the 2009 Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism (GICNT) in the Hague.^[4] He delivered a personal message from the President committing his full support for the Initiative and welcoming 75 nations that joined it.^[5] While serving as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Nuclear Affairs (2011-2016), in preparation for the February 2015 Diplomatic Conference for Convention on Nuclear Safety, President Obama accorded Kang the personal rank of ambassador.^[6] The international community, divided on the future of nuclear energy, was slow to respond to acute nuclear safey concerns that arose following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.^[7] The leading international forum addressing nuclear safety, Convention on Nuclear Safety, was mired in diplomatic deadlock, as anti-nuclear energy political pressure began to build, especially in Europe.^[8] Leading the U.S. delegation to the Diplomatic Conference, Kang secured the swift adoption of a consensus approach to resolving the deadlock.^[9] The compromise made possible the adoption of the Vienna Declaration on Nuclear Safety,^[10] a milestone in the ongoing international efforts to improve nuclear safety as nuclear energy remains viable but continues to be controversial.^[11][12]

During the administration of President George W. Bush, Kang served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Threat Reduction, Export Controls, and Negotiations.^[13] He led U.S. efforts to tighten export controls against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery vehicles.^[14] Kang also served as the senior nonproliferation policy adviser on the U.S. delegations to the Six-Party Talks under the leadership of Amb. Christopher R. Hill.^[15] He participated in the 6th Round of the Six-Party Talks that produced the 13 February 2007 Joint Statement that led North Korea to shut down and seal the Yongbyon nuclear facility and invite back IAEA inspectors to conduct all necessary monitoring and verification measures.^[16] In October 2008, he accompanied Amb. Hill on his last visit to North Korea^[17] He attempted to work out with the North Koreans a verification protocol for denuclearization as Hill tried to shore up the flagging momentum in the Six-Party Talks process.^[18]

Before joining the State Department as a William C. Foster Fellow in 2003, Kang was a tenured professor of political science. He taught international security at the University of Pennsylvania and Northern Illinois University and has held fellowships at the Council on Foreign Relations and the Brookings Institution. He has published extensively; his writings have appeared in such publications as International Organization, World Affairs, and Comparative Strategy.^[19]

During the late 1980s, Kang worked on Wall Street as an investment banker. He specialized in corporate finance and mergers & acquisitions for Dillon, Read & Co., Inc.^[19] Kang is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He became a Term Member in 1997 and was elected a Life Member in 2002.^[20]

Education

Kang received his M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. from Yale University. He also studied at Princeton University and received his A.B., summa cum laude, in 1984 from Cornell University. He is a 1981 graduate of Lakewood High School, Lakewood, New Jersey.^[21]

Personal life

Kang is a son of Ho Ryun Kang (1926-1990), a former general officer and government minister in South Korea, who was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Legion of Merit, and other medals by the U.S. Government for his actions during the Korean War.^[22] Kang's maternal great grandfather, the late Heung Soon Yim, was the chairman of the National Defense Committee of the Korean National Assembly during the Korean War and served as the Mayor of Seoul, 1959-1960. Kang is married to Michell Ho and has two sons, Gregory and Wesley, both born in Naperville, Illinois.^[23]

Selected publications

• “Japan and Inter-Korean Relations” in ed. Samuel Kim, Inter-Korean Relations: Problems and Prospects (Palgrave, 2004), pp. 97–116.
• “Restructuring the US-South Korea alliance to deal with the second Korean nuclear crisis,” Australian Journal of International Affairs Vol. 57, No. 2 (July 2003), pp. 309–324.
• “The Developmental State and Democratic Consolidation in South Korea,” in ed. Samuel Kim, Korea’s Democratization (Cambridge University Press, 2003), pp. 220–244.
• “Institutionalizing the Regulation of Inward Foreign Direct Investment,” in eds. Andrew P. Cortell and Susan Peterson, ALTERED STATES: International Relations, Domestic Politics, and Institutional Change (Lexington Books, 2002), pp. 169–193.
• (Lead author, with Y. Kaseda) “Korea and the Dynamics of Japan’s Post-Cold War Security Policy,” World Affairs Vol. 164, No. 2 (Fall 2001), pp. 51–59.
• “North Korea and the U.S. Grand Strategy,” Comparative Strategy Vol. 20, No. 1 (January–March 2001), pp. 25–43.
• “Segyehwa Reform of the South Korean Developmental State,” in ed. Samuel S. Kim, Korea’s Globalization (Cambridge University Press, 2000), pp. 76–101.
• “The Four-Party Peace Talks: Lost Without a Map,” Comparative Strategy Vol. 17, No. 4 (October–December 1998), pp. 327–344.
• “US politics and greater regulation of inward foreign direct investment,” International Organization Vol. 51, No. 2 (Spring 1997), pp. 301–333.

References

External links

• Opening Remarks for the NATO North Atlantic Council
• Celebrating 50 Years of the Treaty of Tlatelolco
• State’s Kang at Diplomatic Conference on Nuclear Safety
• The Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism: Progress to Date
• Obama Supports Initiative Combating Nuclear Terrorism